Navigation system and program for controlling the same

• US 7,437,240 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2006
• Issued: 10/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Denso IT Laboratory, Inc. (DENSO Corporation)
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Denso IT Laboratory, Inc. (DENSO Corporation)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Takamitsu, Mizuno, Nobuhiro, Hara, Kosuke, Iwasaki, Hirotoshi, Oumi, Masanori
• Primary Examiner(s): Hellner; Mark
• Application Number:
  US11/476,889
• Publication Number:
  US 20070005240A1
• Time in Patent Office: 838 Days
• Field of Search: 701/209, 701/200, 340/988
• US Class Current: 701/209
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3484 Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096838 where the user preferences are taken into account or the user selects one route out of a plurality
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096888 where input information is obtained using learning systems, e.g. history databases

Abstract

A navigation system, having a route calculation unit for providing a navigation route from a start point to a destination based on an evaluation of a plurality of cost parameters by an evaluation function, includes a storage unit for storing a weighting factor determination relation for determining a weighting factor of the cost parameter based on a travel situation of predetermined type identified in a specific length of time and a weighting factor determination unit for determining the weighting factor based on the weighting factor determination relation and the travel situation derived from an actual state of traveling.

Claims

1. A navigation system having a route calculation unit for providing a navigation route from a start point to a destination based on an evaluation of a plurality of cost parameters by an evaluation function, the navigation system comprising:

a storage unit for storing a table for determining a route attribute reference determiner based on a predetermined type of a travel situation which changes in a short term and user information;

a preference determination unit for determining a user preference regarding a route attribute based on the travel situation of an actual state of traveling and the user information, wherein a route attribute reference determiner is employed for determining the user preference based on the table; and

a weighting factor determination unit for determining a weighting factor based on the user preference.

2. The navigation system as in claim 1,

wherein the table includes an observation parameter having binary condition for representing a weekday and a holiday.

3. The navigation system as in claim 1,

wherein the table is defined by Bayesian network model.

4. The navigation system as in claim 1,

wherein a plurality of the weighting factors in the cost evaluation function are organized as a weighting factor table,

a plurality of the weighting factor tables are organized as a weighting factor table set, and

the weighting factor determination unit determines the weighting factors by selecting the weighting factor table in the weighting factor table set.

5. The navigation system as in claim 4 further comprising:

a route option calculation unit in the route calculation unit for calculating plural optional routes respectively by employing the weighting factor table determined by the weighting factor determination unit;

a route attribute determination unit in the route calculation unit for determining the user preference for each of the optional routes calculated by the route option calculation unit, wherein the route attribute in the user preference for each of the optional routes is determined by the preference determination unit; and

a route determination unit in the route calculation unit for determining a preferred route by evaluating the route attribute of each of the optional routes determined by the route attribute determination unit in terms of matching degree to the user preference determined by the preference determination unit.

6. The navigation system as in claim 4 further comprising:

a similar route determination unit for determining the optional route that is most similar to a navigation route actually traveled from among the plural optional routes based on the evaluation by the evaluation function that uses weighting factor table chosen from the weighting factor table set; and

a relation determination unit in the weighting factor determination unit for modifying the table, wherein the table determined by the relation determination unit is modified so that the similar route determination unit determines the most similar optional route to the actually traveled navigation route based on the weighting factor table suitable for the travel situation in the actually traveled navigation route.

7. A program for controlling the navigation system as in claim 1, the program stored in a storage medium for use in a computer that is functional as the navigation system comprising a procedure of:

executing a function of the weighting factor determination unit.

11. The navigation system as in claim 1, wherein the preference determination unit changes the user preference regarding the route attribute determined by the preference determination unit based on an actually traveled route, the travel situation at an actual time of traveling, and the user information at the actual time of traveling.

8. A navigation system having a route calculation unit for providing a navigation route from a start point to a destination based on an evaluation of a plurality of cost parameters by an evaluation function, the navigation system comprising:

a storage unit for storing a weighting factor determination relation for determining a weighting factor of the cost parameter based on a travel situation of predetermined type identified in a specific length of time;

a weighting factor determination unit for determining the weighting factor based on the weighting factor determination relation and the travel situation derived from an actual state of traveling; and

a preference determination unit for determining user preference regarding a route attribute based on the travel situation of the actual state of traveling and user information,

wherein a plurality of the weighting factors in the cost evaluation function are organized as a weighting factor table,

a plurality of the weighting factor tables are organized as a weighting factor table set,

the weighting factor determination unit determines the weighting factors by selecting the weighting factor table in the weighting factor table set, and

wherein a route attribute reference determiner is employed for determining the user preference based on the travel situation and the user information;

a route option calculation unit in the route calculation unit for calculating plural optional routes respectively by employing the weighting factor table determined by the weighting factor determination unit;

a route attribute determination unit in the route calculation unit for determining the user preference for each of the optional routes calculated by the route option calculation unit, wherein the route attribute in the user preference for each of the optional routes is determined by the preference determination unit; and

a route determination unit in the route calculation unit for determining a preferred route by evaluating the route attribute of each of the optional routes determined by the route attribute determination unit in terms of matching degree to the user preference determined by the preference determination unit.

12. The navigation system as in claim 8, wherein the preference determination unit changes the user preference regarding the route attribute determined by the preference determination unit based on an actually traveled route, the travel situation at an actual time of traveling, and the user information at the actual time of traveling.

9. A navigation system having a route calculation unit for providing a navigation route from a start point to a destination based on an evaluation of a plurality of cost parameters by an evaluation function, the navigation system comprising:

a storage unit for storing a weighting factor determination relation for determining a weighting factor of the cost parameter based on a travel situation of predetermined type identified in a specific length of time;

a weighting factor determination unit for determining the weighting factor based on the weighting factor determination relation and the travel situation derived from an actual state of traveling, wherein a plurality of the weighting factors in the cost evaluation function are organized as a weighting factor table, a plurality of the weighting factor tables are organized as a weighting factor table set, and the weighting factor determination unit determines the weighting factors by selecting the weighting factor table in the weighting factor table set;

a similar route determination unit for determining an optional route that is most similar to a navigation route actually traveled from among plural optional routes based on the evaluation by the evaluation function that uses the weighting factor table chosen from the weighting factor table set; and

a relation determination unit in the weighting factor determination unit for modifying the weighting factor determination relation,

wherein the weighting factor determination relation determined by the relation determination unit is modified so that the similar route determination unit determines the most similar optional route to the actually traveled navigation route based on the weighting factor table suitable for the travel situation in the actually traveled navigation route.

10. A navigation system having a route calculation unit for providing a navigation route from a start point to a destination based on an evaluation of a plurality of cost parameters by an evaluation function, the navigation system comprising:

a storage unit for storing a table for determining a weighting factor of the cost parameter based on a predetermined type of a travel situation which changes in a short term; and

a weighting factor determination unit for determining the weighting factor based on The table and the travel situation derived from an actual state of traveling, wherein;

the table comprises nodes representing plural unchanging user information, plural temporally varying travel situation information, critical attributes, and plural cost nodes,

the travel situation information nodes and unchanging user information nodes being parent nodes of the critical attribute nodes, and the critical attribute nodes being parent nodes of the plural cost nodes,

the weighting factor is determined by the weighting factor determination unit by changing conditional dependencies between child nodes and parent nodes based on the actual state of traveling.

13. The navigation system as in claim 10, wherein the conditional dependencies between the child nodes and the parent nodes are changed based on an actually traveled route, the travel situation at an actual time of traveling, and the user information at the actual time of traveling.